


you don't know what you do to me

by adverbialstarlight



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AKA, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Baking, Fluff, Getting Together, Kissing, Living Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Keith (Voltron), Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), i guess that should be a tag here huh, ish, lance cant bake for shit, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 17:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18298898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adverbialstarlight/pseuds/adverbialstarlight
Summary: Lance can't bake. But for whatever reason, it still seems to be his method of choice to tell Keith something very special.





	you don't know what you do to me

**Author's Note:**

> hi, welcome to this spontaneous, written in one-sitting fic that was inspired by me listening to all time low and thinking man, i really would love a cupcake right now. so please excuse any mistakes, this is unbetaed/edited and its almost 2am so a bitch is kinda tired. anyway, enjoy!!
> 
> title from [Dark Side of Your Room](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvEdtSoPjDI) by All Time Low because why not i guess
> 
> (also, side note: i've been cooking and baking for most of my life so idk what culinary ineptness looks like outside of watching worst cooks in america so sorry lmao)

The moment that Keith stepped foot into the house, he was hit with the smell of burning rubber.

Usually, he wouldn’t have been very alarmed at this, considering two of his housemates were always doing weird shit that would stink up their house. But Pidge and Hunk had both left for the weekend, Allura was actually responsible and had class right now, so the only person who could’ve been there right now was Lance.

Usually, that was fine. Just not this time, because the fire alarm was blaring from the kitchen and over it was the unmistakable sound of Lance screaming and cursing.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said, and Keith could imagine him standing there and pushing his hair back as he surveyed whatever disaster had just happened. There was some more incoherent muttering after that, probably something of equal frustration but now in Spanish. The house fell quiet for a moment as the fire alarm finally quit, and Keith thought that maybe he got whatever had happened figured out, but then Lance started shouting again.

Keith sighed and dropped his bag and, with a small, fond smile on his lips, cut through the living room and towards the small kitchen.

It was one of the cleanest places in the whole house since Hunk liked to cook super fancy and cool foods for all of them when he was stressed or procrastinating— something that, fortunately for Keith, Lance, and Pidge but kind of unfortunately for Hunk, happened quite often. They made sure to keep the area clean for him so that it wouldn’t be more work, and so there was never anything more than a few dirty dishes and maybe a vase of flowers sitting on the countertop.

When Keith turned the corner though, this was not the case.

There was flour everywhere possible, on the counters and on the multitude of bowls, bottles, and measuring tools sprawled across every inch of space. It was on the cupcake pan sitting on the stove with some sort of charred, black _thing_ inside it that was sizzling still. And, of course, on Lance.

Keith almost wanted to laugh when he took in Lance’s powder-tainted black jeans and hair, at the way his eyes seemed to widen and his cheeks tinted pink when he saw Keith standing in the doorway. There was a particularly large streak of flour and what looked like purple frosting on his cheek, and it took everything in Keith not to walk over and wipe it off. Instead, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of him.

“Everything good here?” he asked.

“Just fine,” Lance replied quickly. “What’re you— what’re you doing back early? Didn’t you say that you wanted to go see Shiro’s new cat or something? I thought you’d be gone for a little longer.”

Keith watched in quiet amusement as Lance moved to stand in front of him in a very unsubtle attempt to cover up the mess that he’d created in the kitchen. He shook his head. “My class let out earlier and Shiro’s still out of town right now,” he said. “What’re you doing in here? It smells like a biohazardous zone that’s being hidden by the government.”

He tried to look over Lance’s shoulder, but the other boy was quick to step that way and put a hand on Keith’s chest. “Uhh,” he said, starting to move Keith back into the living room.

By the time they reached the couch, Keith’s heart seemed to have sped up by three times and he was absolutely sure that his face was bright now. There was no way that Lance couldn’t have noticed that, considering how close they were, but he didn’t seem to react to it. He was probably too caught up in the humiliation of being walked in on his failing attempt at making what Keith assumed were supposed to be cupcakes or muffins.

Keith wasn’t sure whether it was a good or bad thing.

On one hand, who the fuck fell in love with their fucking _housemate_ of all people? It would be weird if Lance figured it out. Keith knew that it was completely one sided, so if Lance chose to acknowledge it, he’d let Keith down easy and everything would go back to how it was. Except not. Their rooms were right next to each other, of course it wouldn’t go back to normal. Lance would have to be reminded every single goddamn day that his weird housemate liked him like that.

But on the other hand— the unrealistic other hand— maybe Lance wouldn’t hate Keith if he knew. Maybe he’d just shrug it off and Keith would be able to move on with this dumb, two year long infatuation and things _could_ be normal again. Keith wouldn’t have to deal with this anymore. His chest wouldn’t hurt and his stomach wouldn’t flip every time Lance was in the room. He wouldn’t have to catch himself watching Lance for too long, a stupidly sappy smile on his lips and an all too fond light in his eyes and pretend that it had never happened.

And— in the most unrealistic situation, one that Keith rarely let himself think about— maybe if Lance knew, he’d say that he liked Keith too. Maybe he’d—

No, Keith told himself. He was not going to go down that dangerous trail of thought. It was a nice thought, but it was a purely fictional one. The best thing he could do was just keep their friendship strong and not fuck it up.

Not fucking it up meant keeping his eyes focused on Lance’s as he leaned close and whispered, “You saw nothing, Kogane, you hear me? Nothing. I know what I’m doing.”

Keith snorted, stepping back. His heart was beating too fast, but he tried for nonchalance as he said, “Uh-huh, alright. But if you _do_ decide you could use some actual help—”

“Nope!” Lance cut him off. “I— They’re for—” He stopped mod sentence, and Keith watched in surprise as he looked away in what seemed to be _embarrassment_. What for, Keith wasn’t sure. Finally though, he seemed to stop, taking another large step away from Keith and huffed in determination. “It doesn’t matter. Just let me do it, yeah? You don’t have to worry.”

Though he was curious still and the kitchen contradicted Lance’s words, Keith found himself nodding. He didn’t want to sound like a hopelessly in love sap, but when Lance was looking so flustered and determined, Keith couldn’t just say no. Everything would probably be fine anyway. “Alright, just… don’t try to set the house on fire please,” Keith said, unable to stop the smile on his lips. Then, before he could stop himself, he reached up and wiped his thumb across Lance’s cheek, successfully picking up the frosting and flour there. “Also, you uh, you had some flour on your face,” he finished lamely.

With that, Keith turned and headed straight upstairs to his room. From behind him Lance squeaked out a small _thanks_ and Keith stomped down on the way that it made his chest flutter in something that might have been hope that it was a sign. Of what, Keith didn’t want to know. For now, it was probably best to just go and study.

* * *

Almost two hours later, Keith was done with his work— all of it that he had the motivation to do today, anyway. He was sitting on his bed reading a book and thinking about getting up to grab a protein bar when a smell very different from the foul smell of charred baked goods filled the room. It was a nice one, like a bakery or actually properly done cupcakes.

“The hell,” Keith muttered, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He glanced out his window and to the other houses on the block but came to the conclusion that it wasn’t coming from any of them. It was rare for anyone around here besides Hunk to take the time to bake anything, and especially this late at night.

Which meant that they were coming from _Keith’s_ house. He shut his book and looked towards his door abruptly, eyes widening. It couldn’t possibly have been Lance making cupcakes still, could it? But there was no other answer, perhaps he’d been able to scrape the pan and start over. It was definitely a Lance thing to do, though, Keith thought. He wasn’t sure why Lance was making cupcakes, he’d end up finding a way to do it if he really wanted to. It was no surprise that he had.

Keith didn’t think too much into it afterwards, instead going back to his book. He was almost done with it now and he was eager to see how it ended.

About forty pages from the end of it, there was a knock on the door. Keith sighed, though not in annoyance, and closed the book.

“Yeah?” he said, confused. Lance had no reason to be visiting Keith, especially if he was baking right now. There was no one else that it could have been either, since they were still the only two here. Was he actually going to ask for help? Did he have some sort of question to ask?

Lance cracked the door open with a small wave. Keith ignored the way that a swarm of butterflies seemed to erupt in his chest when he saw that Lance’s face was newly painted in flour and even more frosting. He was unfathomably adorable like this, which did nothing to help Keith’s sad case.

“Uh, hi,” Lance started awkwardly. “Mind if I come in?”

Nodding, Keith scooted back against the wall and angling himself to face the doorway. “Yeah, of course,” he said. “There something that you needed?”

“Cool, thanks,” Lance said, shifting awkwardly on his feet before nudging the door open further with his foot. “There was uh, something that I wanted to tell you. Also, I… made you cupcakes.” He nodded at the plate in his hands, filled with mini cupcakes in bright blue wrappers and with swirls of lilac frosting on top of them.

Keith blinked in surprise. “Oh,” he said.

Lance walked in further with a small, embarrassed smile and sat on the bed next to Keith. “Yeah. You don’t have to eat them if you don’t want to though. I should’ve asked but—”

“Thank you, Lance,” Keith said. “That’s really sweet of you.”

“Oh,” Lance said this time. “You’re welcome. Uh, here.”

At the same time that Lance reached for the cupcake up top so he could hand it to Keith, Keith reached for it as well, and their fingers ended up tangling together. Instead of pulling back like Keith would’ve expected though, Lance kept his hold. Keith looked up in surprise to see him already watching.

He watched Lance close his eyes, taking in a deep breath before opening them and setting aside the plate so that he could take Keith’s other hand as well. Keith’s breath hitched and he stared at Lance in bewilderment. He didn’t want to jump to any conclusions quite yet, but still his thoughts were racing.

“Uh, and that brings us to my next point, I guess,” Lance said, looking away for a moment. “Why I tried to make you cupcakes even though we all know I can’t cook for shit and kind of almost burned down the house and all that.” Keith laughed a bit at that, and it seemed to fuel Lance to keep going.

He looked up now, determination in his face as his eyes met Keith’s again. “It’s because… I really like you. Like, in a romantic, I want to kiss you and properly hold your hand right now kind of way. I have for a while, actually. I don’t expect _anything_ from you because of this, I just— wanted you to know that. I never actually really _showed_ it that much like fucking idiot because I’m always flirting with Allura and all that and acting like I don’t like you but I guess... I just didn’t want to admit it to myself.

“But I’m ready to say it now, and I really do like you. If it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to say anything, because I don’t expect you to like me back or anything. If you want to just take the shitty cupcakes and act like this never happened, alright. If you’re actually willing to give me a try and let me take you out, great. Either way, I just wanted to tell you. So yeah.” Lance paused, taking in a deep breath after his long winded speech.

Keith stared at him in awe, watched the way that dark eyelashes brushed against freckled cheeks when Lance blinked and focused his eyes down again. This had to be some sort of trick, a cruel dream that was about to end and leave Keith alone again. There was no way that this was real, that Keith genuinely had a shot. But there was nothing but sincerity in Lance’s voice and there was a knot of warmth expanding in his chest.

As Lance began to stand again, Keith grabbed his wrist, gathered all of the courage that he was able, and leaned in to press his lips against Lance’s. He disregarded the flour that was bound to transfer to his own face and clothing and the way that his hands were shaking, instead focusing on the way that it only took half a second for Lance to turn back and reciprocate the kiss. His hands came up and made their way into Keith’s hair, smiling faintly as he scooted closer.

The swarm of butterflies returned as Keith pressed himself against Lance, as he felt the euphoria radiating from the beautiful boy before him when he wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist and against the wall.

In a small pause, Keith pulled away, still slightly dazed as he pressed his forehead into Lance’s. He’d never fully been able to see low lovely Lance’s eyes were until now, vibrant and detailed and stunning as the boy to whom they belonged. “I can’t even tell if this is just me dreaming right now,” he whispered. “I’ve liked you for so long now, it’s been driving me insane.” Keith laughed quietly, looking away from Lance’s gaze. “If you really were serious about it, I would love to go on a date with you.”

Lance grinned. “Fantastic,” he whispered back, voice nearly giddy. He leaned back, pressing a softer kiss to Keith’s temple and then one to his lips.

“However,” Keith said, tilting his head back again, his nose brushing Lance’s. “I don’t think I even want to _try_ to eat one of those cupcakes after that first batch.”

Incredulous, Lance scoffed. “Excuse me, I’m no Hunk, but I can still cook!”

Keith snorted, reaching up and pushing back a strand of hair from Lance’s eyes. “Yeah,” he agreed, “but that doesn’t mean you can bake.”

Lance opened his mouth to reply, but Keith’s own came up to swallow the words, and instead they became small giggles and fond sighs. It was nice, and if Keith moved to kick the rest of the plate off of his bed and onto the grimy floor, he would not confirm nor deny it.

When they tried one of the cupcakes later just for shits and giggles because it was what dumbass nineteen year olds like themselves did, Keith would not confirm nor deny that Lance could indeed _not_ bake, either.

**Author's Note:**

> and end! also i'm having an off time with writing rn so sorry if it reads kinda weird and stiff, idk either man. hopefully that changes though bc camp nanowrimo starts tomorrow. if anyone else is participating, my user on there is also adverbialstarlight so come find me there and cry with me if you want lol.
> 
> i hope that you liked this fic, leave a comment/kudos/to make me cry and bye :D
> 
> find me on [tumblr](https://adverbialstarlight.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/adverbialnouns) if you want


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